


what does this say?

by mxsicalpup



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice Musical (2019)
Genre: Crushes, Fluff, Multi, Post-Canon, Slice of Life, Tutoring, musical verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 03:09:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18490096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxsicalpup/pseuds/mxsicalpup
Summary: Beetlejuice has trouble reading. He always sort of has. He never really had to be efficient in reading, writing, or spelling; after being dead for hundreds of years, you get bored of reading the same old things. So when the Maitlands play a game of Scrabble, his insecurities shine through - and the Maitlands decide to help their demon learn to read.Just some fluff.





	what does this say?

**Author's Note:**

> IF YOU SHIP BEETLEJUICE/LYDIA YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH THIS FIC AND I'M COMING TO SMITE YOU.

Beetlejuice often never came into contact with things that needed to be read. He watched movies and television shows when the television came out, and even then avoided reading. Mostly because he didn’t like the action in the first place. It took up too much energy that he didn’t want to waste on a petty action such as that.

So when the Maitland’s asked him to play Scrabble with them one evening, of course, the answer was an easy yes.

Barbara set the board up for the three of them in the attic. Lydia was out with Charles and Delia, trying to bond with them again after denying everything for a long time. Lydia was healthy, and Barbara and Adam allowed themselves to back off just slightly and take a chance in Beetlejuice, who was as needy as a child in the body of a grown man.

Beetlejuice made a face at the many squares on the board and the letters on each wooden block. “What in the world...”

“Have you never played Scrabble?” Adam tilted his head just slightly at him, peering at him through his glasses, and Beetlejuice swallowed. “Of course I have!”

“Don’t lie, B.J.” Barbara tsked lightly and sat down between the two men. BJ huffed and crossed his arms. “Fine, I’ve never played. I was too busy watching people suffer in wars to play Scrapple with them.”

“It’s Scrabble, dear.” Barbara corrected in her lighthearted tone, distributing the wooden letter blocks to each of them from the bag. “The point of the game is to spell big words and add up the points you get from each word. The numbers on each letter are the number of points you get for using that letter. The bigger the word, the more points you rack up.”

“That’s right,” Adam smiled, pushing his glasses up to the bridge of his nose, “And there are special squares all around the board that can double or triple your score.”

“Oh.” BJ looked from the Maitlands to the board in front of him, twiddling his thumbs. “Can you both go first so I can see how this is played?”

Barbara flashed her gentle smile at him as she nodded, looking at the seven letters lined up on her wooden stand that comes with the game before grabbing all seven and spelling out 'JEJUNUM'. Adam chuckled a little. "How did you get so lucky the first time?"

"I just had the luck of the draw, I suppose." She giggled a little and picked up a new set of seven letter-blocks. Adam shook his head and scanned through his blocks. "Give me a minute, I need to see what I can play off of that."

BJ stared at the letter spelled on the board, sounding it out as a whisper. "Jjjjjeee.... jeeeeee... what the fuck is that supposed to say?" BJ looked up at Barbara. "Is that Spanish?"

"No, it's definitely English." She smiled again at him, the kind of smile that causes the moths in his chest to beat their wings against his ribs. "It's English. It's a part of the small intestine between the duodenum and ileum."

BJ stared at her blankly, and Adam snorted. "Barbara really liked anatomy in high school." He looked over at his wife, who hit his shoulder just lightly and told him to play his word, and BJ looked down at his letters to try not to think about their stupid human love.

Adam smiled warmly as he picked up six letters and played 'JUKEBOX' off of the first J in 'JEJUNUM'. BJ sat up - that was a word he knew. "Jukebox." He repeated it out loud without much of a thought and looked at the available letters. Barbara shot Adam a look before BJ leaned over to her. "So I have to play off of 'jukebox' and... And the other J word, right?"

"Jejunum. And yes."

"Jejunum." He tested the word on his tongue before nodding a little. "Okay, cool." He stared at the letter blocks on the wooden holder before looking between them.

The Maitlands were patient, and Adam offered him a small, almost pitying smile. "Need some he-"

"No, Adam, I got it." He huffed in annoyance, like he usually did when he got nervous, and then grabbed two letters- he played 'DOG' off of the O on the board. Barbara blinked - she had never seen someone actually play 'DOG' in Scrabble. "BJ, dear, can I see your letters?"

"Uh."

"It's not against the rules."

"Oh, okay." He slid his letters over to her, and she scanned them "You could have played 'DECAY,' or 'DOCETIC'." Barbara looked at him, and he just sort of looked at her blankly. "Do... Docetric?"

"Docetic." She tapped a finger on her chin in thought. "Beetlejuice, do you have trouble reading?"

"Whaaat? Hell no. I can read just fine."

"Sure, but do you understand the things you read easily?"

"Um."

"Have you read Harry Potter?" Adam leaned forwards, and BJ leaned back. "No, that book's for losers."

"What was the last book you read?"

"I'm hundreds of years old, you want me to remember the last book I read?"

"Have you read recently, Beetlejuice?" Barbara touched his back briefly, and he tensed and straightened. "No, of course I haven't. reading is for losers and cowards and I don't like it. It takes too much energy and I can't understand it a lot and reading is terrible." He folded his arms over his chest. "I don't want to play this stupid game anymore, actually. I can't read these big words." He grumbled, and then he was gone in a small cloud of dust. Barbara blinked in surprise and waved away the dust cloud. "Do you think he can read?"

"He knew 'JUKEBOX'." Adam shrugged slightly, collecting the letters off the board. "Maybe he just isn't used to reading. He never had to. He's dead."

"So are we." Barbara sighed and closed the board up. "I know I can probably help him read. Lydia might have books.."

* * *

 

Beetlejuice had run off to the downstairs couch to stare at the television that remained off because he couldn't necessarily interact with the remote. Barbara came downstairs with a book in her hand - Percy Jackson. "Look. You might like this."

"If it's a book, I don't want it."

"We're going to read it together." Barbara sat next to him, and Adam came down just a moment later to sit on his other side. "We're gonna help."

"Am I gonna have to get reading glasses?"

"Probably not." Adam laughed, and BJ watched his face before turning to Barbara. "What is it?"

"Percy Jackson. It's about Greek gods and their children."

"It sounds a lot like The Odyssey. I can't read something like that."

"It's not. It's more for kids like Lydia. She has the whole series."

"There can be serieses of books?" BJ tilted his head, and Adam made a face at the word 'serieses' before Barbara nodded. "Yes, there can be a series of books. This is the first one. Do you want to try to read it?"

BJ took the book from her and looked at the picture on the cover. "Neither of you will tell Lydia about this, right?"

"She'll never know her favorite uncle has trouble reading." Adam grinned, and BJ swallowed slightly. SItting between the Maitlands and getting this attention was already a lot for BJ. "Fine. I guess we'll try."

Barbara kissed his cheek. "For each chapter you read, you'll get a kiss." BJ made a noise of surprise before eagerly opening the book to start sounding out phrases.

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is @mxsicalpup, feel free to follow! please leave kudos/a comment!


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